Thursday, January 23, 2014

Latest European climate targets may never be met - environment - 22 January 2014 - New Scientist

Latest European climate targets may never be met - environment - 22 January 2014 - New Scientist: "European energy policy is in disarray because of concern that high prices are choking off economic recovery. As a result, countries would not accept national targets for renewables. Countries like Poland are keen to stick with burning domestic coal. Others, most notably the UK, want to follow the US path: exploiting what they hope will be cheap shale gas reserves. The UK also wants a nuclear option.

In Germany, Europe's largest economy, CO2 emissions have begun rising again: coal burning hit a record high last year, nuclear power plants are shut and expansion of renewables has stalled at 17 per cent. Last week, its energy minister announced plans to cut subsidies for renewables by a third."